Randy Couture’s Next Steps

At the weigh-ins we booed Brock Lesnar as he expected going up against a legend in the sport.

We were all there cheering “Randy! Randy! Randy!” throughout the fight.

With any momentum he would gather we would jump out of our seats to see if he could bring the big man down.

Unfortunately, watching Randy try to lift Brock Lesnar off his feet and slam him to the floor was watching an exercise in futility.

Give Randy credit, he tried everything he could to get around the massive structure that was in the cage with him but that is simply not an easy task and it does not get any easier at forty-five years of age.

As Brock hammered away on Randy with punches to end the bout it was as though we were watching Rocky Balboa lose to Ivan Drago. Sure it was possible and even probable as you watched the two stand face to face at the start of the fight, but it just wasn’t supposed to end this way. Randy was supposed to defeat all odds and come up with another masterful game plan. Right? Wrong.

The big guy won and now Randy has to take the time to answer the tough questions about his future that Joe Rogan danced around in the post fight interview – “Randy, will you continue to compete?”

We thought we would lay out some options for Randy as he rests and contemplates his next move in the fight game.

Randy, we will leave this list for you.

1. Fedor. Fight him. People want to see it and if you retire and having never stepped into the octagon with him you will always wonder “what if”. Do it for $1 in your backyard and invite some friends over to judge if you have to for the purposes of various contracts but one way or another, fight Fedor. For us and for you.

2. Chuck Liddell. If Wayne Gretzky decided to suit up for one shootout appearance the entire hockey world would watch. If Michael Jordan stepped in for one free throw in a regular season game we would all get up off our seats and hold our breath to watch him one more time. And if Randy and Chuck agreed to battle it out in the octagon for a four-pete… well, there would be no venue large enough for the crowds that would line up.

3. Take on another heavyweight fight; win it and line up for the winner of Lesnar and Mir/Nogueira. You want to compete, compete with the big boys and show them you are indeed getting better with age.

4. Drop down in weight. It can’t possibly get easier with age to fight the heavyweights when your bodyweight is comfortably 220 pounds. Drop down to 205 and be the bigger man in the cage – time to take advantage of any opportunity available to you.

5. Retire. You deserve it. You have served the sport well and you owe it nothing while it owes you sincere gratitude for the years of memories and helping to pave the way for mainstream acceptance. Continue as a paid ambassador for the sport and your millions of fans.

You are a talented athlete, a gentleman outside of the octagon and a legend of MMA.